Bowerman and the Men of Oregon Book Review

Picking up this over 400 page book, I did not know what to really expect. My only exposure to Coach Bowerman is from the movie Without Limits so Donald Sutherland shaped my opinion of him prematurely. The father of Jack Bauer did not do the real Coach Bowerman justice.

The book is so much more than a prolific coach of a mythical track team. I did not expect such a rich (and filled with SAT laden vocabulary) history to start the first quarter; American pioneers, University of Oregon history, the Great Depression, and World War II, and the lesser known six degrees of Bill Bowerman.

It seems that Bowerman coined every phrase in running and that this book is in actuality a history on running. It seemed strange to read about New Zealand's greatest import other than the kiwi was something foreign called "jogging" in the 60s and that before that, runners on the roads would be swerved in to by cars (well, that hasn't changed).

Much like any man's life, there is more than reputation. The book was not a quick jaunt through Pre (appearing more than half way through the book), Nike, and Oregon.

Quotes and notes:
"For when the One Great Scorer comes To write against your name, He writes-not that you won or lost-But how you played the game." (plaque)
p.84

Emil Zatopek's 5000, 10,000 m, 26.2 mile trifectah at the Olympics came from forty hard 400-meter laps with 200-meter recovery jogs every day. :bows down: p.89

Jack Hutchins and the Hayward track set up is responsible for the idea of the finishing kick p.92

I have always wondered what the BRS on the bottom of my Frees meant. The company that turned in to Nike was named 'BRS', for Blue Ribbon Sports, after Mr. Knight (the guinea pig for Coach Bowerman), made the name up on the spot to the Onitsuka company after reading the label of a Suntory Blue Ribbon bottle, the same Suntory Times that Bill Murray was pitching in 'Lost in Translation'.

I will be honest with you guys, I did not finish the book (stopped at p. 273 before Munich) but do not let that be an indication that an in-depth look at a man's life was boring but more an indication that I have lost my ability to focus for more than 400 pages.

Maybe one day I will pick up where I left off at p. 273.

Turkey Trot 5k ( & 15k for crazy people)

In what is likely the last race of 2010 for the Tang family together, the Plano Pacers Turkey Trot proved to be a bit chillier than the 80 degree weather from earlier in the week. Awoken from Thanksgiving food comas around 6 am, the Tangs were greeted by the familiar eerie pond with cold-induced fog.

After warming up a bit before the 8:05 start, the weather warmed up to a balmy 32 degrees. The usual guest runners chatted it up over the instructional speech.

The countdown began, 5...4...3...2...1...(look down at watch and start it)...GO!

For the first half mile, I tried to pace with Heather (since she told me my usual positive splitting is plain dumb) as the usual clumping of runners stringed out and settled in to their collective paces. Closing in on the first mile marker, I was clumped with a little kid and an older guy that I stuck with and passed. Since it was and out and back course, I conserved some energy near the turnaround point since the 16 minute 5k'ers were flying at me, meaning for once I didn't pass the runners ahead of me too early. At the halfway point, I felt like someone was riding my pace and was going to pass me but I think he went too quick and slowed at the turnaround. I got to see everyone on the way back and gave em' the point and nod.

Around mile 2, I sat on two teenagers' pace then passed them around the pond. I heard footsteps minutes later, thinking it was the teenagers, but it was two little kids that came out of nowhere and blew right past me. When I run faster I tend to use my forefoot so it was at about

this point my metatarsalgia flared its ugly head. Mile 2-3, I was pretty much running alone so I thought I might as well conserve for the final push.

The nice thing about pacing and not going all out? Finally had a decent finishing kick uphill.

The bad thing about pacing and not going all out? Coming up short for first by 10 seconds in my new age group debut.

Pat's good influence circled me back to the finish line to cheer on Heather, Dad, and Mom.

Of note, when we all cheered on Mom for the finishing kick, out of nowhere, she let out a primitive warrior's yell and sprinted home.

Did it help?

1st in the debut age group race, new PR, and is now 4th on the 5k all-time list.

Finishing times:

Aaron Tang 23:32.44

Heather Tang 25:06.28

John Tang 25:57.04

Lisa Tang 27:18.32 *PR

Thoughts:

• Guy in the Foakleys at the race, talking loudly with your bro while the rest of us tried to listen to the directions for the race that everyone was about to run? You're just amazing and cool. I wish I could be you.

• Nice to see a ton of DRC half marathon shirts were on display today.

• Bagels and water after the race, excellent.

The warm yellow drink being passed out? I really hope that was not what it tasted like.

• After each finish, I realize now that I walk a bit wobbly for the first couple of steps as if I had vertigo.

• Heather (running, not racing as one of her friends put it) and Dad (who had a hurt right foot for the first part of the race) were short from medalling by probably 10 seconds, I from 1st in about the same time. Dad's age group is the most competitive and the high school xc team came out for Heather's age group. But I think we can all agree, new PR > medals. Unless your name is Mom, then new PR/1st place medal/ moving two spots up the 5k list > all.

• New 5k PR. My goal for 2011.

Thanksgiving Week

Due to sickness, I have been out of commission for a week so I apologize for the lack of writing.

A couple of points:

With Thanksgiving festivities this week, I along with many of you will be moving up a weight class (or two). If you race, remember extra lbs mean extra seconds so instead of PRing, try not yakking turkey and enjoy it.

Which should make those 5k Turkey Trots fun. Anyone running one? Anyways, I read that people who signed up for the one in Dallas are dropping because it'll be chilly. How cold will it be? Between 40-60 or the perfect running weather.

The winner? Local Plano phenom Scott MacPherson, who won the San Antonio Half and this Turkey Trot three times in a row. And qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials? :bows:

TV time:

Dexter Morgan (of Dexter) held his own on that treadmill for an hour this week. I am sure all of you are wondering as I am if I could beat Dexter in a race.

Without a doubt, running against Ruxin or Andre (from The League) in a race would be no contest. I wonder what Andre's time in the marathon was?

Thoughts from the Week

I. And the award for sappiest coach goes to...

II. ESPN's THE DECISION part deux

III. Chi-Town

IV. Aaron Tang the Sheep

1.

I was thinking I would go all hokey and award runners who had stellar years but somehow I managed to go even hokier and I realized that I really can not point to just one runner but a whole team that has improved vastly (*cue female audience "awwwwwww" reaction).

It really is scary the change that has happened in a year. We have a formidable top 5 group that can go sub 24 in the 5k. If only we all worked at the same corporation, we could smoke other sponsored teams.

2.

I will announce an hour long press conference to declare where I will train for next year.

Will I choose my hometown team that has had a recent string of sports failures? Or will I head further east to join the top 4 5k male runners? Will I make a juvenile Nike commercial with Don Johnson? We will find out come December.

3.

This is less than a year away, but organizing a trip to Chicago is bouncing around in my head. Not necessarily marathon/ running specific but for a Texas and Rhode Island meet and Chicago is in between more or less. If it just happens that Chicago has a marathon then, that would be a coincidence.

4.

While in a previous post I have gone against the grain and mentioned my reluctance to try a marathon, I think that I may have to give in and get an iPod shuffle. Anyone who knows me probably would be shocked to know I have been running sans music since leaving Providence.

Great Success at the Turkey Trot 5k: RR

You know its a good day when a Quad-PR occurs.

Thats right!

All of us got our PR this morning at the Turkey Trot 5k in the lovely suburban town of Norwell, Mass.

It was all a little too hard to believe - that all of us PR'd, shaving off at least 1.5 minutes from our previous times, so we thought that perhaps this 5k was a little shorter than usual. So, when Knapp's forerunner watch finally got a signal, we all decided to RE-WALK the course to get some peace of mind to see if we actually did the whole 3.1 and got an actual PR. Turned out to be 3.1 mi. exactly, so our times were valid. YES!

It was actually nice, re-tracing our steps and checking out the kick-ass houses in Norwell. I'd def. get a house there if I had the dinero!

I'm sure I'm going to repeat a lot of things that Kevin and Knapp said in their RR's, so I'll make this short.

The course was decent, not very scenic...just the burbs, but nice none-the-less. There was one semi-big downhill and uphill (but not that steep). Went 1.5 mi one way and then we looped back, which I always like doing because I get to see the guys and get awesome high-fives.

My official time was 28:56, but I remember passing the clock at 28:55, and I'm shaving an extra 2 seconds off that because I started about 2 seconds behind the starting line :). So, according to me, I ran a 28:53. Definitely happy about my time, but there's always room for improvement!

I'm very happy that everyone PR'd and Kevin actually got 1st place in his age group! GO KEV!

Norwell Turkey Trot 5K RR

This is my first blog post in quite some time. I felt it was necessary after the events of today's race. Sean, Nikki, Knapp and I decided a few weeks ago that we needed to run a race, so when Knapp found the Turkey Trot in Norwell, MA and we all had the weekend off, it was a match made in running heaven. I have been jacked up for this race ever since. I spent all week at work thinking about it. Yesterday, the anticipation reached its peak after our warm up run and after watching Spirit of the Mararthon.

Today I followed my typical pre-race traditions. I set my alarm, leaving my self plenty of time to get ready to leave, only to snooze it up 3 times and just roll out of bed at the last minute. I threw on my race gear real quick (including the Lunar Racers, which I have fallen in love with) and grabbed my traditional granola bar and banana.

When we arrived at the race we had plenty of time for our other customary pre-race activity (I won't elaborate). The conditions for the race where pretty ideal. The temperature was right in the mid fifties and there was minimal wind. Most importantly, there were only about 150 people running, making it so there was basically no weaving through the crowd at all. I was feeling probably about as confident as I ever had before a race.

As the race began, I really only had to fight for position for 5 - 10 seconds, then it was clear sailing from that point on. The first mile seemed to fly by and when I glanced down at my watch I was surprised to see I was rocking a 6:34. I was in the zone. I felt like I wasn't even really pushing it that hard and I was close to the front of the pack, which was pumping me up even more so. I decided I wasn't going to look at the watch again until the 2-mile marker and when I reached that point I looked down to see that I had shaved a few seconds off my pace and I was right around 13 minutes. At this point I realized that if I could come close to maintaining this pace, the all time TCRC 5K title could be attainable.

It would be a tall task however, because immediately after the 2-mile marker, was a long and relatively steep hill. As I began my assent, I got my second dose of Arcade Fire's "Month of May". I was so locked in though, I didn't even bother skipping the song and continued to climb the hill. The hill turned out to be not as daunting as I had anticipated and I was on the home stretch. With about 0.3 miles remaining as I turned into the High School, I glanced down at my watch one last time and realized that Pat's record was very very attainable. I tried to turn it on as best as I could for the remainder of the race, but I really only had enough in the tank for a brief sprint for the last 75 meters or so. I just missed the record by about 7 seconds or so and Pat's title remains intact.

The best part of today's race though was not my PR, but the fact that everyone pretty much shattered their PR's. I got about 2 minutes to rest after I finished, before I had to get on my feet and cheer on Knapp and the rest of the clan as every one finished mighty strong. After we all finished the race with such great times, needless to say we were all a little skeptical of the course so, we used Knapp's Forerunner, which had finally acquired its satellites to map out the course, despite it being USATF certified. To our delight, the course checked out and is now not only USATF certified, but Bobby Jenks Certified (we waved their first year of fees).

Final time: 20:55

13th place overall

First in our age group

Norwell 5k RR

After finding out I had to work for the Dec. 5 Jingle Bell race I decided to search the local scene for another race. I happened upon the Norwell 5k in Norwell, Mass. It seemed to be a perfect race for a PR....small, only 150 people, or so, last year. We got there about 40 minutes early, enough time to show off our shoes and get our bibs. The photographer was so impressed with our kicks, Sean and I both got close up snap-shots.

After the inevitable pre-race poop, we lined up at the starting line. I had really high expectations for myself, considering recent training runs I had had. For some reason my brand new GPS watch would not lock on to the damn satelitte, so I was stuck with an incredibly over-sized regular watch. After the gun went off, it was nice not having to bob and weave through all the slower runners in front of me. From the first turn I set off to run nothing but the sharpest tangents I could, something I have been working on for every previous race.

I started out strong, feeling really well. The course was not scenic at all like it was described to be, but it was perfect for running. At the first mile marker I was exactly at 7:40...whoa, what the hell was I doing. I really didn't feel bad though so I decided to keep going at the same pace. Midway through the second mile there was a sharp downhill section laster a few hundred feet (bonus). I took full advantage of it and tried to go as fast as I could. Once we came close to the turnaround, I saw Kevin..then Sean....then Nikki. Once I saw the second mile marker, I glanced at my watch and saw 15:10...a 7:30 mile. With only 1.1 to go I knew I could keep that pace up, but that downhill now became a daunting uphill behemoth that lied ahead of me.

For some reason, maybe I was just feeling it, the hill did not faze me at all. I think I passed 6 or 7 people on it. Once I hit the top I knew I was going to utterly destroy the rest of it. I finished strong at nearly the same pace as the rest of the race, save for a nice sprint at the end. Finishing time: 23:42.. about a 7:38 mile. The thing that impressed me most was the completely even splits, almost exact considering the hill.

Once I heard Kevin's time, and saw Sean and Nikki finish and saw their times, I was highly skeptical about the actually distance of the course. For some reason as soon as I turned on my watch the GPS worked right away.. lame. So we decided to do probably the most ridiculous thing we could do and walk the entire 5k again to see if it was accurate. The Garmin said it was exactly 3.1 miles, so these times are 100% Bobby Jenks certified.

The best things about doing these races for me, is the huge inspiration I get to train for the few weeks after. I mostly cannot wait to run again. Next on my plan: a 10k in December in Newport. Not only is it an auto PR... I think it will be a perfect running distance. After that, actually the next day, my marathon training starts. Bring it Boston.

Thoughts from the Week

Karma, Trophies, The "off-season"

I.

To rectify leaving my sister at mile 3 and the subsequent pacing roller coaster I was on, I decided to pick up her award for taking 3rd in her age group. Turns out the only award left was a 2nd place award which is actually pretty sweet looking:

II.

I peeked at the 5k awards and they look the same. Now, if I was a trophy hunter, my best bet would be to enter in to the DRC 5k. I think all 5 of us could've placed. If I was a trophy hunter.

III.

Again, I am proud of everyone for their half marathon finishes. At the half way point, I thought to myself, Why in the heck am I running 13.1 miles? It took a lot of hard work for everyone to reach the finish line.

After 12 weeks preparing for the 13.1 miler, a lot of thoughts are swimming through my mind on what is next for everyone and myself.

I think there's a 5k at the end of November that should be do-able and then from there, I think I am going to go against the popular decision (Tang do something unorthodox? Go on) and run another 13.1 in the spring/ early summer time. Arbitrarily, I do not feel confident mentally in tackling a 26.2 until I meet my personal 5k and 13.1 goals.

Where's everyone going from here?

Happy Birthday Coach!

(This is what came up when I googled happy birthday running haha)

DRC Half Marathon Pictures

Those photographers are catching on that I just screen shot their pics so they have thrown on more text.

I like how the girl who took off her jacket had to put it on herself for picture ID'ing.

Confusing beginning Muslce Milk arch that was NOT the finish

The actual finish line with the Wood part of the Wood Tang Clan. What scares me is the fact that I do not remember seeing cars at the finish line or anything for that matter.

Heather sporting the half-Hilliard.

The full-Hilliard.

The Nixon finish

Half-Hilliard (look what you did to all the photos, Nikki)

Awesome

Pretty awesome aerial shot of the NYC marathon, I'm totally putting my name in for next year.

http://gizmodo.com/5685354/watch-40000-marathon-runners-invade-new-york-city

DRC Half Marathon Race Report: A Novel

Rough Draft

The night before the race, a raccoon (hoping that is what it was) was scurrying around the attic/ my room, keeping me up. The benefit of daylight savings was lost on me. I hoped this wouldn't prove to be an omen.

Alarms went off at 5 AM in the Tang household. Snooze buttons promptly hit at 5:01 AM.

The time came for the Wood-Tang Clan to head down to White Rock Lake in Dallas, arriving around 6:45 for a prime time parking spot. Thanks to the cold morning weather, we stayed in the Tahoe to keep warm while the female runners on the team made last minute wardrobe changes due to the faux pas of 4 of us wearing the race shirt to the race.

We boarded the shuttles aka Dallas Independent School District buses, which by the way now have seat belts? Overheard from older runners "We never had seat belts in my day." Yeah, same here. Kids these days. On the ride over, we passed the starting line, joking that we took the wrong bus. The bonus was we passed the second set of porta-potties which appeared to have no lines.

My signature (and only) running shorts had a Batman utility belt look, except only with TP.

Unfortunately, the start of the race was downwind from these porta-johns. That will wake you up.

Heather and I spotted the 2:00 pacer and John, Jo Ann, and Lisa spotted up with the 2:20 pacer.

The weather, ranging from around 45-60, was as good as you could have hoped for in Texas.

The Star Spangled Banner was punctuated by myself and others as we shouted "STAR" whenever it was in the song thanks to tradition at Dallas Stars games.

Heather and I walked to the starting line, which was an inflatable arch advertising for Muscle Milk.

The first 3 miles were quite slow (9:30-10:00 pace). Heather and I agreed that our butts were frozen due to the weather so the first 3 were really thawing us out. We did avoid bobbing and weaving, a lesson I learned from the Cox 5k. We even spotted another neon green Nike Lunar Glide runner and a costumed running Elvis.

Unfortunately, this is where the racing mistakes began. The machismo took over and I broke my desired pace and hit 8:00-8:30 pace, dropping Heather (what a great brother, huh?).

Between miles 3 and 7, I started picking people off one by one and while this is great for the end of the half, this was only the beginning. I committed a running sin when I tried my hand at Powerade. Big mistake. My stomach was pretty pissed about this decision. I at least turned down the little kid handing out most likely leftover Halloween candy.

I knew that there was A hill, but I did not realize there were probably 5-7 other hills that sapped the energy from me. For whatever reason, I surged at each of these hills. The good news was that, as my Dad pointed out, there were more downhill parts which I definitely used to pass people.

In the nice neighborhoods we passed, I spotted one of the twins from the Matrix (a pale guy with white dreadlocks) and had a double take and thought I was hallucinating.

At the half way point, I was around 56 minutes, which was under the pace for what I expected.

Around mile 6 or 7, there was a bridge over man made falls. A runner was mentioning the bridge moves. At this point, I did not know what the heck that meant; a draw bridge? As I crossed it, I realized what he meant as it messed with my feet and my dad said he got a head ache at this point. The bridge moved especially with a ton of runners running across it. We all agreed, The Bridge from Hell was a course obstacle.

After mile 7, my mind was focused on getting to each mile marker. Heather agreed that the supporters with posters were brutal since we thought that they were mile markers manned by a volunteer yelling out times. Instead, they were teasing us in to thinking it was the next mile.

There was a lady by herself with a squeak toy that annoyed everyone.

Around mile 10, the uneven pacing caught up with me as I blew up and overheated (carrying my gloves and skull cap) along with my left foot metatarsalgia rearing its ugly head.

I walked through every water station, and yes, I walked for a good 20-30 seconds probably 4 or 5 times. If my pace was graphed for the whole race, It would look like a half pipe.

As the final mile showed up, Heather and I sprinted to the inflatable Muscle Milk arch that was the starting line. Turns out, it wasn't the finish. There was probably another .2 miles left. I tried to throw everything I had left out at the finish line but an older guy surged and passed me at the end. Heather and I were dangerously close to yakking at the end. I am talking gag reflex while people are watching close.

I hit my goal but the way I got there, well, this will give me more motivation.

The spread was pretty sweet afterwards:

Bananas, Clif Bars, Gordon Biersch beer, pizza, breakfast burritos, muscle milk = great post run meal.

They had a booth with New Balance Minimus shoes; pretty slick.

Right before the race, we designated the orange porta-potties area as the meeting area. I walked around, thinking that I had finished first for us. I cheered on Mom as she was .2 miles away from finishing. I thought better than to say "Go Mom" since that would mean every mom would turn around and instead went with "Go Lisa".

I figured Heather would have been done so I was looking around for Asian runners wearing the DRC half tech shirts. I spotted my Dad and Heather. Heather posted a respectable time (unofficially 2:05) considering her "long" run was a 40 minute run. Dad?

EDIT: Once again, I am too gullible and I have been tricked by my dad. 2:03:20. So pretty much everything underneath this sentence, don't take for face value.

:drum roll and bowing down:

Unofficially: 1:41

7:34 pace

his best 5k? 8:10 pace

He said he was just feeling it. He said he ran a positive split. I don't even remember seeing him pass Heather and myself. He trained at Jo Ann and Lisa's pace for all his runs, Kenyan like in taking easy runs easy and racing when there are people to pick off. His secret?

Ben Gay before the race to relax his legs.

The Tahoe smelled like a training room but hey, if that gives you a 1:41, I'll rub that on my legs for every race.

After chowing down some more with 2:09 and 2:10 finishers Jo Ann and Lisa, we headed back on to the shuttle and headed home, electing not to take the bus that was smoking.

The fastest Texan's quote after returning home, PG-13'ed: "I gotta go poop."

And, "Where were the pacing groups?" - due to being faster than the 1:40, 1:50, 2:00, 2:10, 2:20 pacers.

I must commend the DRC for a great race. It was pretty organized, the volunteers were great, and the tech shirts are phenomenal and may replace my Cox tech shirt.

NYC marathon was on TV, overtaking football Sunday.

-Shalane Flanagan placed 2nd in her debut...bad ass.

-Haile walking... then retires?!? What?

T minus 48 hours

Looking at the drchalf.com site, I can't believe it is down to 2 days until the race.

On packet pickup, I realized that in terms of running stores in North Texas:

Run-On! in Richardson > Luke's Locker in Plano

The tapering week has turned in to a throw back to college thanks to my Marty McFly-like ability to not back down after a challenge at the University of Rhode Island and University of Texas at Arlington. All I can say is, whippersnappers these days.

This coupled with a less than pristine training year means one thing; I can actually enjoy this race. That's right, I am going in to this for the experience.

I'll do my usual Without Limits viewing the night before, chow down on some carbs, lay out all my racing gear, rock the huge headphones playing my running mixes, and roll up to this half for ... pure enjoyment.

In 2 days, the debuts of 5 team members means we'll be 5 half marathon medals heavier and tote another race report on the blog.

The Week that was ... Snolphin Week

Topics:

Snolphins(?!?), Flying Aluminum Cans, Shoe Envy, Providence and Cumberland

You can stop checking milk cartons to see if I am missing, the longest lay off from the blog ends here for me. (Do they still put missing people on milk cartons?) You would think there would be a ton of material, but like Guns N Roses's album Chinese Democracy, the most I can muster is nothing but an inside joke:

Anyone sane: What are you drawing?

Tang: A snolphin.

Anyone sane: What's a snolphin?

Tang: It's pretty much my least favorite animal. It's like a snail and dolphin mixed... bred for its skills in awkward.

[stolen from 2004's Tour de Force masterpiece, Napoleon Dynamite]

Oh right, this is a running blog.

While my trip back up to the northeast was closer to training for college more so than my first half marathon (punctuated by Kobe Burgers and a bath tub/ cooking pot filled with iced water fit for domestic beverages or a long run), it definitely lifted my spirits for the upcoming race.

What I did see pertaining to running, I could barely recognize since the same people from 5 months back, Knapp, Sean, Nikki, and Kevin quickly transformed in to runners with Pat and his team leading 1:39 as quick as ever (Lauren, one-time blog poster, showed me she could high-five). Proof: butterfly and half marathon medals, half marathon advice (looks like no clam chowder beforehand), rivalries, Andy Bernard shirts, blood blisters, talks about Kenyan marathoners, gait analysis, Boston talk, and an apartment littered in running paraphernalia. It may be tough to see improvement from day to day, but with almost half a year, it is safe to call each other runners.

RI Itinerary

Day 1: consisted of the longest running conversation I have ever had to this point with Knapp while running around Providence's highlights in light rain a couple minutes after arrival.

Day 2: Running Blackstone with Sean and Nikki with the leaves changing color rather than the 90 degree weather is a nice change.

Day 3: running Prov again with Knapp, Kevin, and Nikki, selling the idea of returning through running Providence.

Day 4: The Pat, Kevin, Knapp trio pushing the pace with Sean and Tang as the caboose of the group. Sean collects a compliment from a kid saying to his dad that he thought all our shoes were cool.

Day 5: Sunday's Halloween jog on Mendon Road where I got a warm New England welcoming gift; a can hurled at Knapp and myself. I also thought, this duo, responsible for a bevy of beer pong wins, has now transformed in to runners. Who knew?

Knapp has taken this running and (no pun intended) run with it. Library of running books, up to date on the elites, GPS watch (I'm jealous), a shrine of bibs, running whenever (proven by the stacked log), and Kinvara oranges = too much awesome (@5:30) especially on Thayer St. In short, the student has become the teacher. Knapp has THE Jack Daniels running bible down pat, so I elect to move Knapp up to coach status.

Tang's Triumphant Return to RI

I hadn't run in over a week since the half marathon, so it's a good thing Coach Tang decided to visit RI to come run with us. After a delicious breakfast at Nick's on Broadway we headed over to Blackstone to run with Nikki. It was a beautiful day, very warm for the end of October. We just ran to the end of the path and back for a total of 3.3 miles. Nobody brought a watch but we probably ran at about a 10 minute mile pace. I remember the first time I ran at Blackstone back in May when I struggled to finish even at a 12:00 pace, it's nice to see that I've made some progress in the past couple months. Then on Saturday Tang, Knapp, Kevin, Pat, and I went for a 5 mile run on the bike path. We ran together for the first mile or so, but then Pat, Kevin, and Knapp picked up the pace and zoomed off into the distance. Tang kindly stayed back with me at about a 10 minute mile pace. The best part of the run was when we were walking back into Kevin and Knapp's apartment and a little kid said to his dad, "whoa they have cool shoes!!!" That's like the 19th compliment I've gotten on my neon lazer green Nike Lunar Glides after getting them a couple weeks ago. Awesome running shoes are definitely one of the best parts of running, I can't wait to get another pair. It's been good to run after some time off, but we're gonna have to find another race to train for, with the half marathon behind us I need more motivation to go out and run everyday.